By Your Side
by HeroxPartnerfan96
Summary: As Spyro and Sparx approach the Mountain Fortress, Spyro considers leaving Sparx behind for his safety. However, the yellow dragonfly begs to differ. One-shot, set during Eternal Night


**By Your Side**

Spyro and Sparx slowly came out onto the edge of the cliff as a blizzard blew in their direction, making things a little hard to see. Once they got there, the two could see that just up ahead was the entrance to the Mountain Fortress. "There it is." Spyro silently commented; they had finally arrived at their destination.

Sparx stared out into the distance to see the entrance to the fortress and the mountain that stuck up to the sky just behind it. "This is the place?" he asked in disbelief. He then turned to Spyro with his arms crossed with an expression of minor annoyance. "Man, your description of this place made it sound a lot creepier. Seems kind of underwhelming, if you ask me." Sparx commented. Spyro simply showed a small smile of amusement hearing this comment and then an expression of concern crossed his face; this wouldn't be easy for him to say, but he knew it would be the best for Sparx's safety.

"Sparx, you don't need to come with me. I won't think less of you if you stay behind." Spyro said. Sparx stared in disbelief before shaking his head rapidly.

"No way...and miss the opportunity to live out my worst nightmares?" Sparx asked. Spyro simply nodded once before he started to walk off ahead and jump off the cliff face, gliding towards the entrance to the fortress. Sparx simply watched in silence as Spyro went off ahead.

"Look at him go...Leaving me here while he heads off into the unknown, where apes and giant bat-like creatures and I don't know what else is in there waiting for him. And here I am, sitting by and watching him go in there on his own..." Sparx commented to himself. He was silent for a few moments before he shook his head. "Yeah, boy...What am I saying? I might not be as tough as Spyro is, but my buddy needs me!" Sparx then confirmed as an expression of determination quickly crossed his face with a smile to match. With this, he quickly started to zoom off to catch up with Spyro.

Back with Spyro, he had made it at the entrance of the fortress and was slowly looking up at the giant stone door leading inside, which slowly opened by itself. Spyro was about to step inside when a voice suddenly rang from behind him.

"Hey! Hey, Spyro! Wait up, will ya?"

Hearing that voice, Spyro turned his head to see who it was and a smile of surprise showed on his face. "Sparx?" he asked. Sure enough, there was Sparx, flying over to catch up with him. Once he arrived, Sparx let out a sigh and looked down, trying to catch his breath.

"Oh, finally! I never caught I'd catch up with you...took ya long enough to slow down." Sparx gasped as he was struggling to catch his breath from all the flying he did to catch up with Spyro here.

Spyro simply showed an expression of surprise seeing that Sparx was here. "Sparx, what are you doing here? Didn't I say that you didn't need to come with me?" he asked; to say the least, it was actually a surprise to him that Sparx decided to come at all.

As soon as Sparx recovered from his loss of breath, he started to scratch his back of his head nervously. "Well, I noticed that you were chasing after those ape guys we always run into and I thought 'Hey, this could be fun'. You know, paying the guys a visit and letting them know that their days are numbered, stuff like this." Sparx explained. He then noticed that Spyro was showing him an expression of suspicion, as if he could tell that Sparx wasn't telling him the truth. Once he noticed this, Sparx let out a sigh of exasperation.

"Okay, you got me. Man, you can read me like an open book, can't you? The truth is: I didn't want you to go in there on your own." Sparx simply stated; since Spyro had him cornered, he had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to hide the real reason he was coming along.

"Why's that?" Spyro asked, showing an expression of confusion. He then watched as Sparx slowly hovered up and pointed to the Mountain Fortress just in front of them.

"Well, look at this place! It's all dark and scary and it's probably filled with apes and all kinds of things to get you, and I'm not sure how you'd be able to fare with managing that." Sparx explained. He then hovered down to Spyro and rapidly shook his hands as he continued. "Not that I'm saying you wouldn't be able to. I mean, let's face it, you've been doing this kind of stuff all day. But I thought this might be a bit too much, you know what I'm saying?" Sparx scratched his head as he finished his rambling and then crossed his arms.

Spyro simply stared at Sparx in silence for a few moments before he shook his head with a smile of amusement. "I'll be all right, Sparx. Don't worry." Spyro replied; he had a feeling that this was just Sparx going off on one of his tangents again. He then turned and was about to step inside the fortress, but Sparx quickly flew in front of him stopping him dead in his tracks.

"Woah, woah, hold up. Are you crazy? Do you honestly think I'm gonna let you head into this creepy mountain by yourself? I don't think so, buddy." Sparx said as he shook his hands and head to show that he was disagreeing with Spyro's opinion on this. He then started to scratch his head once again as he continued. "I mean, I'm no fearless hero myself, but there's no way I'm backing down at a time like this. I've come this far, so I don't see any reason to turn back now. I guess all the danger and peril we've faced so far caught up with me and got me to see that if I turned back now, I'd be making a pretty big mistake."

"What are you trying to say?" Spyro asked, staring at Sparx with an expression of confusion, wondering what Sparx was getting at with all this.

"What I'm trying to say is that..." Sparx let out a small sigh before he finally decided to start being honest; he had a feeling that saying this wouldn't be easy for him, but he had to be honest with Spyro at this point. "I haven't been the friendliest dragonfly I can be to you. I mean, I've made several cracks about your weight and said things at your expense that, if I'm being honest here, weren't the nicest things to say. But I've stuck by you through all of this." Sparx explained. He started to tap the side of his head with one of his fingers as he continued. "There were times where I'd tell myself that this was a bad idea; there was always a little voice in the back of my head that said 'Turn back, Sparx; you don't know what you're getting yourself into'. But I never listened to that voice. And you know why?" Sparx asked, as he hovered down right in front of Spyro.

Spyro simply shook his head, wanting to know the reason why Sparx never listened to that voice in his head. "Because nothing mattered more to me than making sure that no matter what happened, you'd always make it out alive, that we'd both take on the next hurdle together, no matter how dangerous it seemed." Sparx replied.

Spyro slowly showed a bright smile hearing all of this; he never knew that Sparx thought things like this. He always saw Sparx as a witty, sarcastic, smart-cracking brother that rarely showed his soft side, so hearing all of this was quite a pleasant shock to his system.

Sparx could tell that he was taking forever trying to get his point across, so he figured it would be best to just get on with it. "I guess what I'm trying to say, long story short, is that we started this mess together and that's the way we're gonna end it!" Sparx simply stated, thinking that was more than enough to get what he was trying to say across.

Spyro's smile grew larger upon hearing this. "Sparx..." he started, visibly touched by everything Sparx had just said. Sparx turned to Spyro noticing that expression on his face and he shook his head, like he knew what was coming next.

"I know, I know, I can tell what you're going to say. I'm being too sappy for my own good, aren't I?" Sparx asked. He then looked down with an expression of embarrassment as he scratched his head. "I don't know how this stuff comes out of my mouth and I'm just as clueless about how it even got in there. But hey, I'm just sticking by you like any good brother would." Sparx explained.

He then crossed his arms and looked away, feeling embarrassed about having said all that in front of Spyro and awaiting the inevitable teasing about him not being as tough as he made himself out to be to follow. However, he was caught off guard when he saw Spyro's wing reach towards him and pull him over to where Spyro was. "Wha..Hey!" Sparx snapped, turning his glance to Spyro with an expression of irritation. But that quickly faded when he saw Spyro's big smile and he was met with Spyro nuzzling him.

"Thank you, Sparx. I don't know where I'd be without you. I have a feeling that if you were never here with me, I wouldn't have come this far. You've stayed with me, even at points where I didn't think you'd still be there, but you always were. Thank you." Spyro sincerely explained; he honestly thought that without Sparx by his side, there was no way that he would have been able to come here now. Sparx looked up at Spyro seeing him smiling down at him and then turned his glance down with a smile that matched Spyro's.

"Oh, don't mention it, buddy. I'm just doing what I do best: making sure you don't get yourself killed. Well, that and making sure you don't forget me. And maybe also giving you support in case you ever need, not that I ever thought you wouldn't." Sparx explained. He then looked up to see Spyro brightly smiling at him and he was initially caught off guard as Spyro resumed nuzzling him, but then he smiled again and wrapped his arms around Spyro's neck. After a few seconds, the two let go and Sparx hovered back up into the air.

"Well, now that that's out of the way..." Sparx turned his glance towards the entrance of the Mountain Fortress and an expression of determination crossed his face as he pumped his fists in anticipation. "Come on, Spyro! Let's get in there and kick some ape butt! Woo-hoo!" Sparx cheered before he flew off into the Fortress leaving Spyro watching from behind him.

Spyro stared in stunned silence for a few seconds before he slowly shook his head while letting out a silent sigh to himself. "He'll never change, will he?" Spyro asked to himself.

He then lifted his head back up and showed a smile to himself, knowing that was just how Sparx was, and followed after him, ready to head into their final destination, just like how Sparx was.


End file.
